In data packet networks, of which the well-known Internet is a prime example, information is prepared and sent in the form of separate data packets over a data packet network from source to destination. Such a network comprises an elaborate interconnection of nodes, and data packets may take various paths from source to destination, accomplishing a number of separate hops along a particular network path. At each computerized node, packets are processed and forwarded on to a next node or to a final destination.
Each node that is a router in a data packet network comprises processors that receive incoming data packets and processes them according to forwarding information before sending them on. In current art, as one might expect, processors operate only on received data packets.
It has occurred to the inventor that if certain characteristics of soon-to-arrive data packets can be predicted before these packets actually arrive to a packet processor, then latency in normal packet processing may be reduced. Reduction could be in proportion to successful prediction of packet characteristics.
What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus for enabling a processor to predict certain characteristics of incoming data packets before they actually arrive for processing. A system such as this would reduce overall latency in the art of packet processing.